Backstage Video: Nanette Lepore Explains Her NSFW Inspirations

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It was all ankle-skimming frocks, chunky knits, and muted hues on the runway at Nanette Lepore’s fall/winter 2011 collection, but when we caught up with the designer backstage, she told us she took some inspiration from a decidedly immodest source: vintage porn films. “There was something about some of those movies that was very soft-focus,” she says. “The actresses had their hair down and were wearing very floaty dresses. It’s a little boudoir and a little bit of a fantasy and feeling of lightness.” Lepore has also been an outspoken advocate for the garment industry in New York, and she tells us she does 80 percent of her manufacturing here in the city. “These factories enable us to keep new talent in New York, fashion innovation in New York, and fashion excitement in New York.” Watch the video for a look at the clothes, the sky-high platforms, and more.